Labor-Based Grading Contracts: Building Equity and Inclusion in the Writing Classroom

The study was conducted to determine if students graded by the contract method (experimental group) would retain, for a 5-week period, the knowledge level possessed at the end of a 9-session venereal disease unit and if the contract students would retain as much, or more, knowledge than students graded by the traditional method (control group) . Ss for the grade contract group (n = 27) were drawn from two junior high school health classes and Ss for the traditional grading group ( n = 30) were drawn from two other health classes. Results of the ANOVA tests conducted at the .05 alpha level indicated that 1. ) the grade contract students, as well as the tra ditional grading students, retained the knowledge level possessed at the end of the unit, and that 2. ) the contract students did not retain any more, or less, knowledge than the traditional grading students. GRADING HAS remained among the problems of I education in which an adequate solution has not been found. From the kindergarten or first grade to the graduate level, most of the student's and teacher's life revolves, directly or indirectly, around the ever present grading system. Almost every school and teacher has been beset by controversies concerning the evaluation of pupil progress (6) . The traditional grading method has been widely criticized recently in numerous articles and books (5, 10, 12) . Suggestions for alleviating the grading controversy have ranged from the elimination of grades to the adoption of alternate grading methods (6:292-307) . The grade contract method has been one of the most widely adopted alternate grading technique. Numer ous articles have been recently published which pre sent contracts used by teachers and which describe specific advantages of the grade contract (3, 11, 18, 19,20) . One might conclude from the contents of these articles that the contract method is a more desirable grading technique than the traditional grading system. However, very little research has been conducted to determine the effectiveness of the grade contract method in contrast to the traditional method. The majority of grade contract studies dealt only with students graded by the contract method. Most of these studies found favorable student performance and positive student reaction toward the contract method (2, 15, 19) . Only three research projects that compared the performance of grade contract I students to traditional grading students have been located in the literature (9, 14, 17) . The results of these studies were mixed?some findings favored the grade contract method and others revealed no difference between contract and traditional methods. None of the grade contract research studies dealt with the variable that is the concern of this study, the retention of knowledge. Certainly the topic of knowledge retention is not new to researchers in psychology and education. Many of the educational studies have compared the retention of knowledge of students taught by various instructional techniques (1, 4, 8, 13). However, the analysis of knowledge retention of students evaluated by the various alternate methods of grading has been markedly absent. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine knowl edge retention as a variable of students graded by the contract and traditional grading methods in order to provide for teachers further evidence for choosing a grading method.

Student Attitudes toward the Grade Contract

Neuroprosthetics that combine a brain computer interface (BCI) with functional electrical stimulation (FES) can restore voluntary control of a patients’ own paralyzed limbs. To date, human studies have demonstrated an “all-or-none” type of control for a fixed number of pre-determined states, like hand-open and hand-closed. To be practical for everyday use, a BCI-FES system should enable smooth control of limb movements through a continuum of states and generate situationally appropriate, graded muscle contractions. Crucially, this functionality will allow users of BCI-FES neuroprosthetics to manipulate objects of different sizes and weights without dropping or crushing them. In this study, we present the first evidence that using a BCI-FES system, a human with tetraplegia can regain volitional, graded control of muscle contraction in his paralyzed limb. In addition, we show the critical ability of the system to generalize beyond training states and accurately generate wrist flexion states that are intermediate to training levels. These innovations provide the groundwork for enabling enhanced and more natural fine motor control of paralyzed limbs by BCI-FES neuroprosthetics.

The literature on product quality in markets where product attributes are not readily observable indicates that information asymmetries and incentive problems may lead to the under-provision of quality. This paper contributes to this literature by estimating the effects of village-level contractual arrangements on producer incomes and on quality enhancing production practices. Three contract types are studied: spot contracts, contingent contracts with product grading and contingent contracts without product grading. To do this, the study uses original data from a survey of 450 coffee producers in Tanzania's coffee market that take advantage of contractual variation in the Kilimanjaro region. The results indicate that coffee contracts that include village-based product grading have a large positive effect on producer incomes, and that the grading effect is associated with production practices that enhance quality. The results also indicate that cooperative membership has no significant effect on producer incomes.

Due to the complex nature of assessment in critical pedagogy practices, continued research is necessary in order to investigate the constantly evolving nature of education and the way we come to know how people learn. To research assessment in the critical classroom requires both instructor and students. This qualitative multiple case study investigated impacts of a grading contract as a form of assessment on student writing in a Basic Writing composition course. This study examined the impacts of a grade contract on students' writing, motivation for writing, revision practices, authorship and expectations of a Basic Writing composition course. Through a critical pedagogy framework, this study also investigated the power relations of common standards of grading through the process of negotiation. Data sources included student essays, interviews, reflection letters, and online negotiation dialogue. Results from this study suggests that by using a grade contract, students demonstrated higher levels of revision practices as well as levels of frequency. Furthermore, the results indicated that students perceived an increase in motivation as well as an increased sense of authorship. By engaging in a negotiation protocol, students perceived a higher level of control over their learning and role in the course. Based on the analysis, a sample model of employing a grade contract in a Basic Writing course using a negotiation protocol developed. This study has implications for using a grade contract model as a form of assessment in college composition courses or writing intensive courses as a way to increase motivation for writing and revision practices as a way to improve writing level.

Student Reactions to College Grade Contracts

This qualitative study examined how authority was negotiated in an undergraduate teacher education course in which I, as the teacher of the course, involved students in establishing their obligations for the semester by designing individualized grading contracts. The findings suggest that seeking mutually satisfactory agreement, finding several solutions to the problems being negotiated, compromising based on principle rather than pressure, and deriving legitimacy from mutually recognized sources represent potential frameworks for negotiating authority in teacher education. Through modeling congruence with my personal, pedagogical, and professional beliefs, I helped reframe our underlying focus for the semester, reconfigure the intellectual atmosphere of the class, and reconstruct our working relationship, thereby accomplishing a reasonable and realistic level of change in our approach to grades while fostering a pedagogy of teacher education consistent with democratic aims. Such knowledge is important for expanding our understanding of how authority is negotiated in teacher education settings while also informing efforts to foster democratic teacher education practices and prepare future teachers to teach democratically.

A comparison of the relationship of the grade contract and traditional grading methods to changes in knowledge and attitude.